65 IT STRETCHES T HE man in shirtsleeves, standing outside the Broadway drugstore facing his little audience, pulled the rubber ten-dollar bill out until it I was two feet long, and then let it snap back into shape.. "Only a nickel," he told his crowd. "Only a nickel. Now, folks, I won't guarantee you can take this to that bank on the corner and de- posit it. But if you want to. have some fun, if you want to enjoy yourself, if you want to have a good time, take my advice, folks, and get yourselves some of the only money that stretches." "Listen," said the Cuban soda clerk just inside the door, addressing me across the counter, "I've seen all kinds of people. I've always been in a public business, you might say. I was a stew- ard on the \\T ard Line for years. Y ou could come back here ten years from now, and I would recognize you. The people never remember me, but I al- ways remember the people." "Listen," insisted the man outside the door, waving the rubber bill at his audi- ence, "I want to have some fun, so what do I do? I go into Childs down the street there. I order myself a good dinner. I have Virginia ham, and sweet potatoes, and a nice herring. [Laughter.] Then, when I get the check, I want to leave a little some- thing for the waitress. She is a poor girl. She works hard. I take one of these rubber ten-dollar bills. I fold it, like this. I leave it on the table where she can see it. Folks, if you could have seen the look on that girl's face when she saw that ten-dollar bill on the table, you would know what I mean when I say that you can't get more fun out of life than by buying one of these ten - dollar bills, the only money that stretches, for a nickel." "Listen" the , Cuban soda clerk . d " I lnstructe me. know more sto- ries about the people around here than any- body. I could tell you stories. I been working here eight years. My brother, he goes to Havana University until it is closed down by Machado. But I work here eight years. Five years ago I know a girl. She is very pretty, and she is in that bad kind of business, only a -AND NOW IT'S kid, eighteen. Yesterday I see her on the street. You know what she do, that pretty girl, now? She is a scrub- woman in an office building. I am em- barrassed when I see her, but I know her, so I have to talk to her, and Iíind out. Ruined? That girl, she is a rag. She looks old. She is not worth now, phoo, thirty cents. She is a rag." "All right," said the man outside the door, talking confidentially to his crowd, "your wife spends too much money. Don't hit her on the nose. Don't give her a black eye. Don't go to jail to cure her. Buy one of these ruhber ten-dollar bills. Next time when you go home, and she says, 'Joe, I have to have some more money.. I have to " ..', ' "<' " buy a dress,' you take out this rubber ': "'}! ,j]::: ::":,:ú:: ten - dollar bill. You give it to her. 11\ : :f \::: 0t' You say, 'Minnie, I have solved the t tt 5 problem. No longer are you going to W';' "". ,,:A6\J} ,-if! t keep me broke. Here is money that jjK :i,: stretches.' Folks, I promise that she - "' ' :, .3#;,::. will get the point. I know. I tried it :,::, W ," ' '7; ';\/?: ""'-"' jik"", *;; , ',i .. ...."f'tr.. .. "'.( "'". ....., ..... ....... . ...:..-..;..;4.... :::....:.:":":... ..... . ""9 on my wife. If you wait a few minutes > >i:',,' '( ,;" ,',>.. > '. '. , until she is through workino- at Min- :<Jl ",iJj: , " ',,! ';> :" ,-( s=%1.+.r ", , .. sky's, 'down the street ther;' you can ,;;;':fJ;; ; -:;:;;;', :: ::::::; : ;; _ ask her." Wi "Y ou think that people out there I '" have a good time the way they're spend- ing money?" the Cuban asked me. *tæ >:,,<, ::=\.<.. :,:* , "Never. They are not happy. I have seen happy people in Iny own country, !. but I have never seen a happy Ameri- I can. F or the poor here it is impossible i to have a good time. I make twenty- five dollars a week. So. I know how ' :;;\:: F"Ý j'" ,''', to havc a good time, even here. That is to go to the best places, in a quiet way, see, and spend maybe thirty dol- lars in an evening. But how can I af- ford it? '[wice, three times, I have done it. It is bet- t ter to do that two " times a year than ,\ to go to the mov- "I i""""" ._ !t o \ i B cS t tw h ice a we t e h k. ''''''0,*1R'/ .A - II ow can e \Úi<ä1' á" "'" ::::::,:': poor people afford ''': ' ;; , it, even twice a :w .. ::: .... year?" ,::,; w N:: ..(/' \ - r' "All right," the :: .,' " ' \ ',-, ,-:. ' - þ.., , man outside the <';:Zii 'i1#< . -. \ ........... I, ' "' YJf -""'- - - ' I doo r a ss ure d hi s li s - ---- :. ,, "" --. "'---=- . ; r , I teners, "you don't J have to laugh.. _"""'.,, CMAw.t-- - Maybe you know \ all my gags. But we put on a fresh show here every Wi..: .'...,:.,.",:",<.,'.. thirty minutes, free, for nothing, so that I can tell you about the only mon- ey that stretches. You carry one of these bills in your pocket. You meet \ .... DOG] Ð ( J 0 O'N YOUR FEE T DAPHNE ;l ' t t :( ia ':;::' .;.;.... ,-.,...:.. ::;:.,,,,.. ......" ' "=:;-.-:::, ':-": .",.:.::. ...:. '...". ,:':$1' <q ,)é :::':" ',:,:.:,..::.', ':, , ',<' ..., \ì; { .f: ! i . ' :' y\y> .i :, . ,.... .,, :, :" ' t.:,:, I -::: >i $ ,: :' j ,,:'. " ...:' . , 'r,!j 7'" ..,. ,j.,*. -':" t.- '::- .. .. ,:.,- . '." -.. 0- .. :: .:...::::.:,;:->-::..;.:.::;. :..:: :.:.::::.::."'.,..::..:"'. :... " ,. "".. .-.-.- . .- ::::::::::;.:-;:::':'.'.;::;:..:::::: ;.:*::;:;:;-:.:.:::::::::;: ",::, ii, ^ Í f. i 1 I í '* ,'..<:::::.:... ::H;.(>.::E:S ">"':,,3 ;-ftlRô :.,f. LQ.;Ô::=J .::" ' . . . , . .. ' f LEXINGTON AT F.J,JTV NINTH